Daydreams
by lux.astraea
Summary: Harry keeps zoning out and Hermione has her suspicions as to why. Hints of DM/HP and RW/HG... though only if you squint. Please R&R, concrit welcome!


**Daydreams**

"Hellooo? Earth to Harry!" Hermione poked him in the ribs once more and upon receiving no response, sat down in a chair with a huff.

"Hey, Hermione, what's going on?" Ron came bounding into the common room, his arms full of butterbeer bottles and an assortment of food begged from the house-elves.

"Harry's doing it again," she replied in answer.

"Oh," Ron sighed. Putting his latest haul from the kitchens onto a table, he wandered over to where Harry sat staring vacantly at the wall. "Harry? Hey mate, you want a butterbeer?" Ron waved his hand back and forth in front of Harry's face.

Harry continued to stare blankly at the wall.

Hermione shook her head in frustration and grabbed a butterbeer from the table. "Ronald, this is the fifth time this week he's done this."

"I know, Hermione, but he'll be okay, just let him snap out of it in his own time, yeah?"

Hermione took a long drink from her bottle before answering him. "It's got to be Voldemort, you know it, and I know it."

"Could be," Ron replied thoughtfully, "Harry has been saying the oddest things in his sleep recently though…"

Hermione looked up sharply. "What kind of things?"

"Well, when he's not moaning about someone called 'His Ickle Dragon', whoever that is, he's saying stuff about Voldemort being evil. If he wakes me up with all his noise I tend to put a Silencing Charm on him, it lasts until morning and he never realises. Stops the others from complaining, too."

Filing the 'Ickle Dragon' comment away for later as well as restraining herself from criticising Ron's choice of Charm, Hermione nodded. "Well, if you could accuse someone of being downright evil, it would be him."

Ron nodded and stood up from his crouched position in front of Harry, stretching his legs for a moment before taking a seat on the sofa. "I don't know, Hermione, I think that this is just Harry's way of coping with things right now. He's got a lot on what with Voldemort, trying to find a girlfriend, NEWTS, the Order stuff, not to mention the D.A."

Hermione bit her lip at Ron's clueless-ness and nodded along. It was true, but the cause of Harry zoning out like this had to be something else. She just felt it. "Well, I'm not sure, I think we should get Madam Pomfrey, or at least tell Professor McGonagall what's going on. It could be Voldemort or something."

Ron rubbed a hand over his face in resignation and sighed, "Okay, we'll tell McGonagall. I'll go find her." Standing up, he left the two of them alone in the common room, which was devoid of other students because of the nice weather outside.

Hermione finished her butterbeer and moved from her chair and onto the sofa Harry sat on. "Harry, snap out of it," she said harshly. He didn't move.

_Bugger.  
_

Maybe a different approach, Hermione thought. Moving so her mouth was right next to Harry's ear she said, in the quietest voice she could muster, "Draco's here, Harry."

Hermione leapt backwards as Harry suddenly flew to his feet, smile on his face. "Draco? Where?" His eyes clearing, Harry looked around and only saw Hermione.

"Crap," he said. "I did it again, didn't I?" Harry's head fell to his chest and he covered his face with his hands, mumbling to himself.

Hermione nodded, questions on the tip of her tongue about Draco and what it had to do with Harry's zoning out, but before she could ask Ron and Professor McGonagall rushed in through the portrait.

"Mr Potter! Are you quite all right? Mr Weasley ran into my office claiming you were catatonic," the Professor said, clearly out of breath.

"Sorry Professor, its a false alarm," Hermione said, brightly, covering Harry's lack of response. "Turns out Harry can sleep with his eyes open. Ron was just overreacting, as usual."

The Professor looked between Harry and Hermione, clearly knowing that it was a lie, but letting it stand for now. Nodding at the trio, she turned and left the common room without another word.

"Thanks, Hermione," Harry said, recovering his voice once they were alone.

"You, Harry James Potter have a **lot** of explaining to do," Hermione said, standing up and pushing him towards the boy's dormitory stairs. "Come on, Ronald, Harry has a few things to tell us. In private. _Right Now_." Her tone brokered no argument and the two of them trudged upstairs into Harry and Ron's dormitory where upon Hermione set about the most intensive round of questioning a Hogwarts student has ever experienced in Hogwarts; A History.

Hermione Granger became a top magistrate in the Wizarding world, well known for her no-nonsense interrogative style and an uncanny ability to know when she was being lied to. When asked how she'd got so good, she always privately recalled the time when she'd questioned the famous Harry Potter about his relationship with Draco Malfoy and how it had caused Harry to repeatedly zone out in public as he remembered the things they'd been up to the nights previous.

Of course, she didn't tell the press that. No, she told them about the second thing that came to mind - her interrogation of Ronald Weasley about his true feelings for her.


End file.
